The Typographia Medicea (Medici Oriental Press) was founded in 1584 by Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici for the purpose of printing Christian texts in Middle Eastern languages, including Arabic, Turkish, and Syriac. This Arabic gospel was produced by the press in 1590–91. The beautiful cursive Arabic type, designed by Robert Granjon (1513–90), represented an advance on all previous European attempts at creating an Arabic typeface. The fine engravings by Leonardo (Norsino) Parasole (circa 1570–1630) are after designs by Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), who was in turn inspired by ...